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Thomas moves up, Dozier down in lineup vs. righty

Thomas moves up, Dozier down in lineup vs. righty

6/20/13: Clete Thomas belts a solo homer to deep right field, his first long ball as a member of the Twins, to pad the lead in the fourth

By Mark Emery
/
MLB.com |

CLEVELAND -- Brian Dozier might like hitting leadoff, but that doesn't mean he's always going to get his wish. The Twins slated Clete Thomas into that spot on Saturday against the Indians.

The fact that the Tribe was facing a righty in the Indians' Corey Kluber factored into manager Ron Gardenhire's thinking. The skipper preferred Thomas' left-handed bat up top, and he didn't want to cluster his lefties at the bottom of the order, as Oswaldo Arcia and Chris Parmelee hit left-handed, too.

"Dozier hits lefties, and Clete hits righties," Gardenhire said. "As I said, I was going to flip these two around. I think they've both done a really nice job up there."

Against right-handers, Thomas owns a .296/.321/.333 slash line this season. When Dozier hits against southpaws, his numbers are .295/.385/.523.

In his last six games, Dozier is 7-for-20 with two doubles, four home runs and eight RBIs. The second baseman hit eighth in the lineup on Saturday.